The Okami Files
by OkamiSamurai
Summary: Tigress was an ordinary highschool girl getting on in life with her friends. One day a new student comes to her school and she learns of a world of magic that was right under her nose. AU. Humanized. Rating somewhere between "T" and "M"
1. Chapter 1

**The Okami Files**

 **Chapter one: The New Guy**

It was a beautiful morning in Peace City, birds were chirping, the sun was shining, people were already on the move to begin the day.

And a lovely young redhead was waiting impatiently for her friend.

"C'mon already. It doesn't take this long to get ready." She shouted to an open window on the fourth floor of a large apartment complex.

The front doors opened for a pretty young girl with long black hair that held a pair of flowered pins. She walked briskly past her, "Waiting on you now, let's go Tigress."

Tigress rolled her eyes and sighed, a little annoyed by her little antic.

"Right behind you Viper."

Tigress and Viper were junior in the local high school, Peach Tree High. They had been best friends since pre K and vowed it would continue to last forever. They had met each other through their fathers, both respectable kung fu masters, and from that point on They were like sisters.

They went down the street on their usual route, where they stopped by a small time noodle shop.

"Po! C'mon, we're gonna be late!" Viper shouted.

A slightly overweight young man with a black and white hoodie, and jeans came stumbling out. "See ya later dad!" He yelled to his father inside.

"Have a good day at school son." A old man poked his head out the door and waved goodbye to Po.

"Hi Mr. Ping." Tigress said waving to the old noodle chef.

"Good morning girls! Best you hurry, you don't want to be late."

They all waved goodbye and set off to school, which only took them three minutes. The school was big, as it had to be for it was the only school within a five mile radius. And there's a lot of kids within five miles.

"So Po, are you gonna talk to her today, or are you gonna wuss out again?" Viper teased her closest guy friend, who began to blush furiously.

"Viper, stop it. He'll talk to her when he's ready. Lets just hope it's before graduation." Tigress said as they walked through the double doors of the school. Po hung his head down at Tigress's last comment, which caused him to not pay attention. He bumped into someone and stumbled back when he saw his junior high school bully and Tigress's ex-boyfriend.

Tai Lung.

"Hello, Ping. How are you this morning?" Tai Lung asked.

Tigress stepped in front of Po protectively and demanded, "What do you want Lung?" She and Tai Lung broke up because of his ruthless bullying, especially to her good friend Po. After the breakup Tai Lung vowed to change his ways and stop his bullying and work to end all bullying in the school. And he held up to his word like a champion. But despite all the effort he put in, Tigress made it painfully clear that they would never get back together.

"Nothing Tigress, just saying good morning. How are you by the way?" Tigress knew that Tai Lung's change was genuine, but she still couldn't forgive him for all the terrible things he did to Po.

"Running late. We need to go." She and Viper pushed Po forward to their lockers.

"Alright, let's talk later huh?" He called.

"I'll think about it." She called back as they rounded the corner and stopped at their lockers, which were all together.

"This is really starting to get annoying." Tigress sighed.

"Well at least he didn't ask you out again, right Po? Po?" Viper turned to face him when he didn't answer, but then smiled when she saw who the big guys eyes were locked on.

She was a short, pretty and cheerful girl. A member of the dance club, and one of the popular girls. She had a feeling she was being stared at and turned to where the group was. As she did Po stuck his head in his locker blushing profusely.

"She didn't see me, did she?" He asked hoping the girl he had been crushing on since the third grade didn't see.

"Hi Po!" Said a very sweet voice that made his knees weak and his heart melt.

He turned to face tell owner of the voice. "Song, good morning." He said, his heart beating a little faster.

"Morning! Are you alright? You look like you have a fever." She put her hand on Po's forehead which almost caused him to faint, if Tigress and Viper hadn't been there he would have fallen over.

"He's fine. He's always like this when he's up late at night." Tigress said as she helped her friend stand up straight.

"Really?"

"yeah, he'll be fine in a little while, when he finally wakes up." Tigress began leading Po to the classroom, who was stammering incoherently.

"Hey why don't you sit with us at lunch Song?" Viper asked as Tigress and Po went to their seats for homeroom.

"Sure. See ya then." And she went to her homeroom.

Inside the classroom Tigress smacked Po in the back of the head to snap him out of the haze he put himself in. "If you want to talk to her, do it instead of acting like doofus."

"I try, I just can't get the words out."

Viper was the last one to take her seat when the homeroom teacher came in.

"Good morning class."

Some of the other students responded, others just sat where they were.

"I have an announcement to make." Everyone stopped what they were doing and gave the teacher their undivided attention. "We have a new student attending our school and I want you all to do your best to make him feel welcome. Come in Hiro."

After he called a tall young man walked into the room.

 **Tigress's P.O.V.**

As the boy walked in I began to make mental notes. First thing I noticed is that he was tall. I'd most likely have to crane my head up to look him in the eye. The second thing I noticed was his hair, shoulder length, enough to declare casual rebellion. Third thing was... _him._ It was hard to see his build as his clothes were big and baggy. He was wearing a black leather coat that reached down to the back of his knees. He wore gloves without fingers, the kind you would see on a biker gang member. The last thing I noticed was his smile, it was overflowing with confidence.

"Hey there, nice to meet y'all. The Names Hiro Okami."

Hiro.

Nice name.

The teacher nodded and said, "Thank you for that introduction, Hiro now if you'll-"

A high pitched whine pierced the air.

One of the girls frantically tried to get her phone that was making that awful sound out of her pocket, but her pants were too tight for it to happen very soon.

Everyone started complaining about the noise and once she turned off her cell the teacher's voice rang out. "Detention! Mr. Okami take your seat."

"You might wanna get that looked at." I heard Hiro whisper as he took a seat next to mine.

I decided to greet him as he took his seat.

"Hi. I'm Tigress." He turned his head and smiled, I have to admit it was rather charming.

"Nice to meet ya, I'm-"

Suddenly more phones began to whine, ringtones began to go off and a mild form of chaos began to ensue. Everyone began to scramble to turn their phones off, and the teacher shouting for order and quiet. I got out my phone and it was acting crazy! Apps were being activated, numbers looked like they were being pushed. What is going on!?

I shut my phone down and put it back in my pocket. So far today was-

"Weird."

I looked over and saw the new kid, Hiro looking around at everyone who's phone went off. Then he looked back at me.

"Does this happen often?" He asked me with a raised eyebrow.

"Not really, nothing like this has ever happened before. Not since..." I started to think to myself about the strange occurrences that had been happening today.

"Since... what?" He asked.

"Nothing." I said just before the bell rang for the first class. I got up and followed Viper to our first class.

So far it was a really strange day, nothing like this has ever happened...

Until he came.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully in fact the only interesting thing that happened was Po choking on his food at lunch when Song came to,sit,with us.

I found that Hiro was in a couple of my classes. I tried to ignore him, for some reason he was weird. I couldn't quite place it but I don't think it was a coincidence that everyone's phones went crazy when Hiro first arrived.

At the end of the day we were on our way to our usual hang out spot, a little cafe a few blocks away from the school. Po, Viper and I were doing homework and chatting about the day.

"Po we need to figure out how we can get you over this shyness you have when Song comes around." Viper said to Po, who was in a bit of a slump since lunch.

"I know, I know. I just can't help but get nervous around her."

Viper made a thoughtful sound, wondering how she could help Po. Honestly I was barely paying attention. "Have you tried practicing what you want to say?" She asked him, I just tried to focus on my homework. It wasn't easy, as my thoughts drifted to the day's events.

"Yeah, I tried imagining that I was talking to her, and I still got nervous!" He said exasperated.

"Hmm, Tigress your thoughts?" I snapped out of my thoughts when Viper addressed me.

"Sorry, wasn't listening. What's going on?"

Po and Viper exchanged a look, then looked back at me, "You feeling ok? You're not usually so... distant." Viper asked with worry in her eyes.

"Sorry, I was just thinking." I answered truthfully.

"What about?" Po asked.

"About that new kid I guess."

"Oh, you mean Hiro?" Po Said with his happy grin, I guess he put the incident at lunch in the back of his mind for now.

"You know him?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah he's in my language arts class, and P.E. class. Real nice guy."

"Yeah, in fact weren't you chatting with him this morning, Tigress?" Viper asked with a sly smile. "What do you think of him?"

I thought about my answer for a moment and said, "I can't decide if _he's_ Weird, or if weird things happen around him."

"You mean what happened with everyone's cell phone? Yeah that was strange, but you don't think Hiro is the cause of it, do you?" Viper had a point, just because all the cells in the class acted crazy just when Hiro arrived doesn't mean he is the cause of it.

Right?

"Huh, actually something similar happened in language arts today." Po said.

"What? What happened?" I asked almost frantically.

"Well, that new t.v. the we got? It started going all screwy."

"What do you mean screwy?" I asked.

"You know, channels flipping, volume going up and down. Things like that." He said calmly.

"And you don't think it's strange that nothing like this has happened before Hiro enrolled?" I asked, Po is without a doubt a great guy and a true friend, by he can be very oblivious sometimes.

"Nah, just a really random coincidence."

Like now for instance.

"Uh-oh." We looked at Viper who was staring out the window. We were here longer than we had planned, it was getting dark fast. I started to gather my books and papers and put them in my backpack.

"C'mon we should get going." Po and Viper followed suit and we each left a few bucks on the table and headed out into the night.

I don't like going out into the city after dark, never did. Its not that I'm scared or anything, it's just everything is creepy at night, things that you normally wouldn't give a second thought become things that play the most tricks on you. You see more things out of the corner of your eye at night, and when you look and there's nothing there sometimes there is a sense of relief, other times it sends a shiver down your spine, and leaves you with the feeling of being watched.

I just wanted to get home as soon as possible.

We decided to take a shortcut through a few alley ways, I know smart right? But like I said earlier, we wanted to get out of here and fast, so we took a route that could get us home.

We got throughout the first couple of alley ways without incident.

The third is where things started to go wrong.

We started hearing a raspy noise, almost like sandpaper against wood. Suddenly I felt my insides freeze, a shiver ran down my spine, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Po and Viper froze on either side of me, they felt it too. Then a man rounded the corner twenty feet in front of us. He was average height, average build, and average looks, a regular average Joe.

What wasn't average was the blood all over his face and throat. He shuffled around like he was drunk. When he breathed it made that horrible raspy noise, and made the air reek of blood. And when he set his eyes on us, oh God. His eyes were completely black, like a sharks.

Soulless.

I knew we would have to fight our way out but I was too afraid to even move.

He smiled. The kind of smile smile that promises evil intentions, and the blood that was slathered on hi face only added to the creepiness factor.

"Well now." He said, his voice as raspy as his breathing. "After such a delicious meal, I think I'll treat myself to a sweet dessert." His inhuman eyes locked on me.

The fear that took hold of me... I can't even put it in words. The only way I could describe it was pure fear-for-your-life terror. I felt my friends shake on either side of me, they were too scared to move as well. What am I supposed to do? We're all about to die and I'm standing there because I'm too scared to do anything about it.

At this point I started to hope, to wish, to pray for something, anything to save us from this... _monster._

Someone else showed up almost immediately after my wish.

"HOOOOOWEEEEEE! What is that stank!?"

All eyes landed on a tall young man with shoulder length black hair, a leather coat, baggy grey cargo pants, and a baggy black shirt with large white letters that spelled _Keep Calm... And Suck It!_

...and he had a charming smile.

My brain was suddenly locked in trying to figure out why Hiro would walk right into a situation like this, and yet here he was walking right into this little nightmare like he had done it a thousand times before.

He nodded to us in recognition, I think I waved back, I can't remember.

"Ya know I've noticed how easy it is to find you Red Court creeps."

Red Court? What was he talking about? Whatever he meant, it must have hit a nerve, because the man's face twisted in rage as Hiro spoke.

"All you gotta do is follow the stench of blood." He finished. His expression suddenly changed from charming smile to "ready to throw down".

The bloodied up man snarled at him, now completely ignoring us.

"This has nothing to do with you, White Council brat!"

White Council? Red Court? What the hell are they talking about?

"Actually it does. See, those guys over there?" He nodded in our direction. "They're friends of mine and I'm not about to let you eat them."

Eat us?! Is that what he was going to do?! Oh my God! I'm now so glad Hiro came around.

"I don't care if they are of your blood, the buck and does are mine!" The crazy guy said.

Buck and does? Is that some sort of reference to me, Po and Viper?

Hiro shrugged nonchalantly and said, "Well it looks like nothing I say is gonna dissuade you..." He reached behind his back, under his leather coat and pulled out... a stick. "... I guess I'm gonna have to resort to more efficient methods."

He pulled out a stick...

Why a stick?

You'd think that after walking into danger like a badass he'd be packing some kind of heat, instead of a one and a half foot long piece of wood.

"I will enjoy feasting on your blood... wizard."

Uhhhhh, what?

"Take your best shot... vampire." Hiro pointed his stick at the... _vampire_ and said in a loud voice.

 _ **"Fuego!"**_

And a column of fire the size of my fist erupted from the tip.

...

Wow.

 **A/N. I'm actually a fan of the whole high school drama thing, so I decided to write my first high school fic. But I'm adding elements from my favorite book series. Been on my mind a while, so here it is. Tell me if y'all like and if I should continue.**

 **And don't worry, I'll still be working on my other story. I plan to alternate between them.**

 **Review, fave, comment but like with the other stories, be honest.**

 **Peace.**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Okami Files**

Chapter Two:It's Magic Ya Know

Hiro's P.O.V.

You know when I first moved here I was hoping I could just attend high school, make a few friends, meet a nice girl. You know that sort of thing.

Instead I'm having a throwdown with a fuckin' Red Court vampire. That's right, vampire. Guess what, they exist! Who knew, right? Well, I always did. I was hurt by these monsters as a child, which led to an irrational yet entirely justifiable hatred of them.

So I had absolutely no remorse roasting the vampire in front of me with magic.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention... I'm a wizard.

If you're already thinking things are getting weird, you might want to get used to it. Hell, I have to deal with things like this every day.

Now... uh... where was I...?

...

...

Oh yeah the vampire.

It sidestepped out of the way of the fire I had thrown at it. It was fast, but not fast enough, the vampires right leg was hit by the lance of flame I had cast.

Another thing people don't know about Red Court vampires… they're really flammable. It's leg burst into flame like it had been doused in kerosene, and it didn't stop there. The fire traveled up his leg and kept going until his whole body was burning.

I didn't have time to celebrate though, cause that's when the vampires deal face was revealed.

It started tearing at its what could be loosely described as it's skin, and it fell to the ground in flaming chunks. When the last piece of whatever it was to make them look human was gone, it's black soulless eyes locked on me and a seething hiss of rage escaped its gaping jaws.

It looked like something out of a nightmare. I want you to take a minute to imagine the biggest ugliest bat you've ever seen… Did you picture it? Good. Now imagine that bat you've just imagined to be a cute little child's plushie in comparison. Like when it looked human, it had those creepy black eyes, it was about seven to eight feet tall, it's akin looked like it was made of greasy rubber, it's long lanky arms also doubled as it's wings and were tipped with long sharp claws just itching to eviscerate me.

I quickly glanced at the three who were watching from the sidelines, the boy, I think his name was Po, had fainted. He was being held up by the two girls on either side of him. The short girl, I don't think I've met her yet, looked like she was about to lose it. And the red head, Tigress I think, had the 'is this really happening?' look on her face.

For all three of them, this was their first encounter with the supernatural.

I looked back at the vampire and started to focus my will. I needed to take it out here, before it had a chance to hurt anyone else.

It let out an ear piercing shriek and moved with the kind of speed you'd expect in something much smaller, like a cat. It swung its arm at me, it's claws aiming for my throat. Typical of vampires, always going for the neck.

I lifted my right hand, my palm facing the oncoming vampire, and snarled _"Forzare!"_ and a blast of unseen force flew from my outstretched hand and slammed into the vampire's chest. The force of the spell sent the vampire flying like a giant ugly cannonball into the side of the building not even twenty feet away, leaving a large indent in the wall.

Oops.

Oh well, I'm sure they have insurance.

I started to breath heavily, that last shot took a little more out of me that I had expected. You see, magic has to come from somewhere, usually it comes from the one who is casting the spell. And right now I wasn't operating at full strength. If I was, ugly here would already be a greasy stain on the pavement.

I had about two or three good shots left in me, I had to make them count.

The vampire pulled itself from the wall and once again flew at…

Po and the others!

They were still standing there, not moving as the flying nightmare came hurdling at them. Dammit! It's a trap, I know, but I just can't stand to see people get hurt by creatures of darkness like ugly over here. So I gathered my will and tried something I wasn't really that good at…

Earth magic.

I practice elemental magic almost daily. Fire magic is my speciality, it's fast, it's strong and it's very effective. Wind magic is very much the same as fire magic, just less burning buildings.

All three of which were empty and abandoned, so no one got hurt.

Earth magic is a little more difficult though. You know what it's like to push a really big rock around? Same basic principle. It takes a lot muscle… er, magical muscle.

But despite my young age, I'm a metaphysical heavyweight.

I hardened my will and yelled _"Teradus!"_ and a wall of pavement rose, creating a shield between the vampire and my new acquaintances. The concrete wall cut off the line of sight for the three of them and got them out of 'deer in the headlights mode'. The vampire however flew face first into the wall.

I tried not to laugh, it is not the right time for it. So I turned my attention Po and friends. "What're y'all standing there for? Book it already!" That at least got the red heads attention, she grabbed the other two by their shirts and hauled them off the same way they came in the alley.

Now that they were gone I didn't have to worry about any collateral damage. The vampire pulled its face out of the concrete wall and stumbled around, stunned. Which gave me the opening I had been looking for. I snarled a word and three concrete spikes shot from the improvised shield I called up earlier, and pierced the vampires blood reservoir, right in its belly.

Quick thing about the Red Court, if they don't feed they're weak. If they have fed recently, try and slice their belly open. Doing that will make them lose all the blood they fed on, and make them lose their strength.

A large amount of blood fell from the wounds in the vampires guts like a small waterfall, and another ear piercing screech filled the air. I had it on the ropes now.

It then spread its arms… wings… whatever, and tried to fly away. Right, like I was about to let that happen.

I put in a minor effort of will, raised my blaring rod at the fleeing vampire and muttered _"Flareus"._

A small ball of flame shot out of the tip of my blasting rod which then burst into thousands of tiny sparks of flame, and flew right at the fleeing vampires wings. The membrane burned like rice paper and the vampire cell to the ground.

No more gas left in the tank, and no wings… he's not gonna be much of a problem anymore. I walked over to its ruined form and smirked at its condition. At this point you might think of me as a bully… not true.

Vampires like this have been preying on humans for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. To them we're cattle. Food. Just a source of sustenance. That's the way it's been, and that's the way it probably alway will be.

Doesn't mean I have to put up with it.

The vampire looked up at me and spoke with so much venom in his voice that I almost thought I'd have to go to a hospital. "Do you really think this will go unnoticed wizard? The Baroness will have your head for this affront."

I nodded. "I hope so, I've been wanting an audience with your boss for a while now." I pointed my blasting rod at the vampire, the tip started to glow a cherry red. "Maybe this will get her attention." A look of fear filled the vampires black lifeless eyes as I unleashed my final spell. It does my heart good to see the tables turned on the creatures of the night.

" _Fuego!"_

A whirlwind of fire twirled around my fallen foe, it emitted one final screech of pain before the only sound left was the roar of the flames. Once my spell ended, the only thing left of the vampire was a black scorch mark on the ground.

I looked around at the alley way and winced at the damage. The pavement was all torn up, there were some fire damage here and there. And there was a giant scorch mark in the middle of it all. So I did what anyone in this situation would do.

I whistled a little tune and walked away before the sirens started blaring.

I was about to round the corner and go incognito when I started to hear voices on the other side of said corner. First thought that came to my head was another Red Court vampire, so I stopped and listened.

"Well, welcome back sleeping beauty. Did you have a nice nap?" Said a stern, sarcastic female voice.

"Huh? What happened? I think I blacked out for a sec there." Said a confused and almost worried male voice. The mind of voice someone has when they sleep through something important unintentionally.

"Yeah, no kidding. Don't worry though, anyone would've passed out from something like that." Said a third, cheery female voice.

"Something like what?" Said the male voice.

Hold on a second… I recognize those voices.

Oh, please don't tell me…

I peeked around the corner and… yep the three stooges were there, huddled together sitting with their backs to the building.

Unbelievable! I tell them to hook it and they decide to just hide behind the closest corner they can find. You know it's times like this that I'm amazed mortals have survived as long as they have.

These three however won't last five seconds if they run into another supernatural baddie. I guess I'm going to have to be the one to help them out; I won't be able to sleep at night if they got themselves torn apart by a troll.

Yeah, trolls exist too. They usually live over in faerie world. Not even kidding there.

"You mean to tell me that to you guys, the concept of 'get the fuck out of dodge' is to hide as close to the action as possible? Congratulations y'all, you've just earned honorable mentions for the Darwin Awards."

Tigress jumped to her feet and got right in my face. "What the hell was that!" I thought she was going to throttle me for a moment there.

I calmly put my blasting rod in the holster on the inside of my coat, then replied to the freaked out girl with equal calmness. "That… was exactly what it looked like."

"But that- you were- you just- you-you-" I definitely saw this coming. She believed her entire life, that things like vampires and magic could never exist. That there was no such thing as monsters. Now everything she ever believed in had shattered. I know the feeling, I lived it.

"Ok, calm down. Deep breathes." I had almost expected her to go all crazy at my advice, surprisingly though she did as I said.

"Ok. Ok. I got it!" I lifted an eyebrow and waited for her to explain her sudden revelation. Po and the short girl… I gotta learn her name, both looked at her expectantly.

"This is all just a dream!"

I almost facepalmed. A dream? How cliché. I had to prove to her that this was reality. So flicked her in her forehead.

"Ow!" She started to rub the spot when her eyes widened in realization. This wasn't a dream. "This is real…"

I was just about to console has when the whence of the night was broken by police sirens.

"Oh shit!"

I just bolted down the street, leaving the other three behind. "Hey! Aren't you supposed to explain all this!?" I heard Po shout to me. No time the fuzz is on its way.

"Look for me tomorrow!" I yelled back.

Tomorrow. I need to find a place where we can have that conversation.

And I think I know just the place.

 **Tigress's P.O.V.**

I didn't get any sleep last night, after what happened. Magic men, vampires, what else is out there?

It was now the fourth period and I was trying to get Hiro's attention all day. And whenever I did it was always "not now" or "later". Just what is he waiting for?

Word about the disturbance had begun to spread all over the school, you know what people were saying? Gas explosion! All the damage was blamed on an underground leaky gas pipe and some frayed electrical wires.

Me and three others knew what really happened though. I wasn't going to say anything however; I didn't want anyone to think I was crazy.

After the bell rang I was on my way to meet Viper and Po for lunch, when I bumped into Hiro. This time I was going to get some answers. I don't even know why I want to know this stuff. I mean wouldn't I be a lot happier not knowing?

But here I was, trying to get the truth out of the only guy who knew.

I must be losing my mind.

"I know what you're going to ask, and I'm saying _not yet_." He added a little extra emphasis on the last two words.

"Then when?" I almost yelled. We were starting to earn stares from passing students. Come on Tigress, keep it together.

"You forgot where." He said handing me a folded piece of paper. I thought about it for a second and realized he was right. Not only was this the wrong time for this, it was the wrong place. I sighed in defeat and took the paper. "Go there, and I'll tell you everything you need to know. Oh, and bring the other two with ya."

The other two. He must mean Po and Viper.

I stood there as he walked away, then unfolded the paper.

Written there was an address, and beneath that were the words…

 _Accorded Neutral Territory._

 **A/N. Bet you never thought you'd see the second chapter to this story huh? Surprise! Ok y'all know the drill, tell me how I'm doing. Comment, fave, review. Just be honest, but don't hate.**

 **Btw, for those of you at home who don't know, the Darwin Awards are awards given to people who get themselves killed doing incredibly stupid shit. You want to see more Darwin Award honorable mentions? See the cast of** _ **Jackass. Lol.**_

 **See ya.**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Okami Files**

 **A/N. Been awhile since I last worked on this story, sorry if y'all have been waiting.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my OC's, I own nothing else.**

Chapter three:The Big Reveal

 **Tigress's P.O.V.**

"Where are we going again?"

Once the final bell rang I dragged Po and Viper out and we made our way to the address Hiro gave me. "For the last time Po, we're going to get some answers."

"But I only asked you one time."

"And it's still going to be the last."

"You mean we're going to look for the new kid and get him to explain all the weird stuff that happened last night?" Viper asked trying to cram all her books in her bag.

"Yes. I want answers, and he's offered to give them." I said holding up the paper Hiro had given me earlier. I took my hand off Po's collar and quickened my steps, I wanted to get to the meeting place as fast as possible. Po and Viper lagged behind me a little bit, but caught up easily.

"So, where is this place?" I heard Viper ask. I stopped. I frantically opened up the piece of paper the new guy had given me, read it over and then groaned loudly. I was so wrapped up into getting the answers from our new acquaintance that I hadn't realized that the address was unfamiliar to me.

At the top of the paper was the word, _"Taz's"._ Below that was the address, and below that was the words, " _Accorded neutral territory."_ What the hell was _accorded neutral territory?_ I guess I'll have to add that to my list of questions.

First I had to get there.

I pulled out my smartphone and pulled up the GPS and punched in the address. I didn't need to wait long, in a couple of minutes I got a map to where we needed to be. I wasn't far from where we are now, about a mile or so.

"This way." I said, and lead my two best friends to the… accorded neutral territory.

 **A little later.**

We finally found the place after a while, we would've gotten here faster but Po had to stop for a passing ice cream truck. Good ol' Po, right?

Anyway, we found the location of the place in the towns college district in an alleyway, down a set of stairs that led to…

A pub.

You know I was kinda expecting the location of our meeting to be somewhere a little more… I don't know, inconspicuous. I wasn't expecting a public place for this. We looked around, the place looked like an old-school tavern, there was a bar (of course) with fourteen stools at it. There were fourteen tables scattered at random places, fourteen pillars carved with scenes from old fairy tales and placed in areas where they structurally made no sense. And fourteen fans hanging from the ceiling that brought the word 'overkill' to mind. Why would he need so many fans?

Then there was the people there. When we walked through the door at the bottom of the stairs, the whole place started to stare at us… all seven of them. There was a group of four at one table with plates of half eaten food, and bottles of what I assumed to be alcohol. All four of them were wearing black leather biker outfits and looks that said that we didn't belong here.

There was another man over at a table close to the door we came in, he had long hair that covered his face but I could still tell he was staring at us. I was starting to get the same feeling I got from that crazy guy from the alley last night. I looked away from him and moved my gaze to the man behind the bar.

He was tall, bald and had virtually no expression on his face. He wore a white shirt, and a white apron that had no stains from the large wood grill behind him. The food he was cooking smelled really good. When I looked over to him he nodded at a spot on the wall next to us. We looked over and saw a wooden sign that had the words _"Accorded Neutral Territory."_ I gave him a nod in understanding even though I have no idea what that is supposed to mean.

My eyes scanned the room until they landed on the seventh person here, way in the back with his back against the wall was the boy we came to see. He waved us over to the back, and under the other patrons scrutinous gaze we made our way over.

Hiro was wearing his long leather coat, blue denim jeans, a baggy ACDC shirt and a small grin. "Hey guys. Have any trouble finding the place?" He asked.

"We stopped for ice cream on the way over." Po answered. Hiro's eyes brightened for a moment.

"Ooh, did you bring any for me?" He asked.

Po's shoulders slumped down. "Sorry, we didn't think tha-" Hiro raised his hand stopping my friend in mid sentence.

"Relax big guy, I was just kidding. Take a seat." We did but got up and walked over to the bar. After a couple of minutes he came back with four bottles of coke. He took his seat and opened the bottle with one twist of his hand, then almost down more than half the bottle. "Alright, you three wanted answers, so start asking."

 **Hiro's P.O.V.**

They slowly and uneasily sat down, they seemed nervous about something. Well, of course they are; they've stumbled into a world they have absolutely no understanding of. A world of magic and monsters and things that go bump in the night, and believe me it's really scary the first time you learn about all this.

They kinda had it worse though, a red court vampire attacking you in a dark alley in the middle of the night? Now I don't care how tough you are, if you manage to survive something like that, you have nightmares for weeks. The three in front of me got off to a bad start in the world of the supernatural, so it's my job to help them through it. I just wish I could get paid while doing it. Hey, I'm all about helping people with things like this, but smiles and "thank you's" won't put food on my table.

The red-head in the middle, Tigress I think, was about to open her mouth to speak, but the big guy on her left beat her to it.

"What is this place anyway?" He asked looking around the place.

I took another sip of my coke before answering. "First time coming to Taz's pub, huh?" They all nodded. "Well, it's exactly what it looks like; a pub. But the only ones who come here are part of the supernatural crowd." They tensed up after I gave them that last piece of information. They started to look around the place nervously before I got their attention again. "Would you relax? You're safe here." I reassured them. But they looked anything but relieved. In fact they seemed more tense.

"The three of us were attacked last night by a bloody faced psycho and saw you throwing a torrent of fire out of a stick. How in the world do you expect us to relax, or believe that we're safe?" Tigress asked me, and I gotta admit those are very good questions. A lot of people never recover from a bad first experience with things like vampires and trolls and such. Most of them shut themselves off from the rest of the world because they're too afraid of a repeat performance. And honestly who could blame them?

I nodded at the wall on the other side of the room, where the wooden sign was hanging. "That's why." I said and took another sip of coke.

"What does that mean anyway?" The short dark haired one asked. I think her name is Viper.

I took a second to think about how I was going to answer this one. "A lot of the denizens of the supernatural world live by very, very, very, very old rules. The rules of hospitality is one of them. Neutral territory like this is basically a 'no fight zone'. You wanna start something with someone; you better take it outside."

"And if you do fight here?" Tigress asked.

I took the last sip of my coke and placed the empty bottle on the table. "Then it makes your respective factions look bad." I said simply. I got up and went to the bar. "Hey Taz, trade ya." I said holding up the empty bottle. He looked at me with a flat expression on his face. I reached into my pocket and took out a little cash. "How about now?" He then took the bottle then nodded over to the group I was just with. "Oh, they were attacked by a red court vampire last night. I happened to be there."

He nodded in understanding. "The Wardens?" He asked. Taz is a man of few words. He's quiet, but he makes up for it by having very wise things to say, and for making killer steak sandwiches. He handed me another bottle of Coke, then I answered.

"If Jonas has a problem with me helping these people out, he can blow me." I walked back to the table opened the bottle and sat down.

"So, next question?"

Tigress narrowed her eyes at me and opened her own bottle then took a small sip. The other two followed suit before Tigress asked her question. "Who was that who attacked us last night?"

I took another sip of my coke before I answered. "I was wondering when we were going to get to that. That _charming gent…_ " Sarcasm; just another one of my many mad skills. "...was a vampire of the Red Court." Their eyes widened at what I just said. After a couple of moments I was beginning to think that they were expecting me to say 'just kidding'. I let it sink in just a little longer. "What did you think it was?" I asked.

Viper was the first to recover from what I had said, and she answered. "I… thought it was some kind of trick." Of course; first thing most people do when they can't explain something, is decide that it was just a trick. Well these three aren't gonna last very long. "Maybe some kind of chemical leak that causes hallucinations." Another thing people do when they can't explain something is try to blame it on something that can be explained. Gas leaks, downed power lines and gang violence are actually the most popular things that people blame.

"What's the 'Red Court' part mean?" The chubby one asked, I don't think I got his name.

Good question. "The best way for me to explain that is to say it's like different varieties of bats; vampire bat, fruit bat… you get the idea."

"So there are different kinds of vampires?" Tigress asked.

I nodded. "Yep, the Red Court are the most monster-y of the vampire courts. The creature you all saw last night was the vampires true form. They can make a kind of human suit called a flesh mask, that makes it easier for them to get close to their human prey."

"And the other kinds of vampires?" Tigress asked with a raised eyebrow.

I took another sip of coke and answered. "Well, there's the Black Court, which are the more classic undead bloodsuckers. Like the vampires from Stoker's book."

All three glanced at each other before Viper spoke. "You mean the book _Dracula_?" I nodded. "Is Count Dracula really real?" She asked.

I nodded again. "Last I heard, ol' Vlad was still in his castle in the Carpathian mountains. Anyway next question."

"Are there any other kinds of vampires?" The big guy asked. I really need to learn his name.

I sighed. "Yes, there are two more varieties of vampires. There are the White and Jade courts. The White Court are actually the most human-ish of the vampires, they usually feed on raw life energy, usually through emotions like fear, despair and lust." The girls raised one eyebrow at the last bit. "As for the Jade Court… I don't know."

"You don't know?" Tigress asked.

I started to get defensive. "Hey, they're really good at keeping themselves hidden. Anyway, next question." I hope this one won't be about vampires.

"What are you?" Tigress asked. Oh, finally! I've been waiting for this one. I smiled and said…

"I'm a wizard."

Looks of skepticism were plastered on their faces. Oh, come on! They saw it all last night, how can they not believe me? "Are you pulling our legs?" Viper asked.

I gave them all a flat look and held out my hand, palm facing up, and whispered a single word.

" _Feugo."_

A small ball of flame ignited in my hand. There was no matches, no lighter, no flammable substances and no tricks. Just magic.

"Seeing is believing, right?"


	4. Chapter 4

**The Okami Files**

Chapter four: Seeing is believing

 **Tigress's P.O.V.**

I stood at my locker, trying to get everything I need for the day, but my mind kept returning to yesterday's events.

We were attacked by a vampire…

The new kid, Hiro is a wizard…

And, apparently magical beings live amongst us every single day.

"How you holding up?" A voice asked me. I turned my head to the direction of the voice and saw… my locker door. I sighed and closed my locker to see the wizard, leaning against the lockers of a couple of girls I knew. Said girls looked like they were trying to get to their lockers, so I grabbed Hiro by the front of his coat and dragged him away. "I take it you're still adjusting." He said in a calm voice.

I stopped. Flashes of the vampire attack returned. "Of course I'm still adjusting, how do you think I'm supposed to take this!?" I snarled at him.

He didn't even flinch. "One step at a time." He answered. I let go of his coat and looked down at the floor. Everything I ever believed in, everything I knew was or was not real was suddenly irrelevant. I grew up with my father telling me that there was no such thing as monsters, but that didn't matter now. Because I saw, with my own eyes, that monsters really did exist.

Monsters, magic, all that dropped on you just like that… it's enough to make me want to cry.

In fact, I did.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't keep the tears from spilling forth. I didn't want to break down in the middle of the hallway, in front of everyone. I felt a hand grab mine, and drag me to an empty classroom. I looked up, through blurry eyes, and saw hiro close the door. "I know that this is a difficult time for you."

I scoffed. "Oh, really?"

"Yes. I was only seven years old when I discovered my magic."

I sniffled. "What happened?" I asked, suddenly curious.

He smirked, probably at the memory. "I was in… first grade, I think. It was almost summer, we were having that little sports festival, you remember those?"

I chuckled a little, drying my eyes. "Yeah, I came in first in every event." I said proudly.

"Lucky you." He exclaimed sarcastically. "I came in last, a lot of the other boys would give me a whole lotta grief about it. Which is one of the reasons why I don't like bullies." I nodded, I don't care much for bullies either. "So… it was the last event, the long jump, and I wanted to win at least one event. So, when it was my turn, while I was running, I wished with everything I had and… I jumped… Ten feet further that what I had intended to!"

Ten feet?!

"Seriously?" I asked.

He smiled at my reaction, but for a second I noticed that this smile was different that his usual 'charming' smile, it was more genuine. "Yep. Broke the country's high school and college record… and sprained my ankle. But it wasn't put in the books because it wasn't 'official'." He said using air quotations. "But I still got first place in the festival, still got the ribbon back home. Soon after that my teacher came and took me away to learn how to use my magic."

"And you were scared to learn magic?" I asked, since that was supposed to be the topic of this little conversation, and it seemed to be veering off.

"Oh hell no, I was excited to learn magic. But I was scared shitless when I came face to face with a vampire for the first time."

"What happened?" I asked

"It was junior high, and I went into this abandoned building that was supposedly haunted on a dare. It wasn't haunted… and it wasn't abandoned either. It was being used as a hideout for a scourge of Black Court vampires." He said with a straight face. If it weren't for what I had seen the other day I would have thought he was full of it.

"What's happened there?" I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders and said, "They tried to kill me, I got scared and ended up burning the whole place down." Wow.

"Overkill?" I asked.

"Not really." He answered. "There is no such thing as 'overkill' when it comes to vampires." He explained as he reached in his pocket and fished out a old pocket watch, one that ran old clockwork. His eyebrows almost hit the ceiling when he saw the time. I looked up at the clock on the wall; it was three minutes till homeroom!

"Oh crap!" I started to panic. I had never been late for any of my classes before, and I'm not about to start now. "We gotta go!" I said. Hiro was already grabbing his bag and held the door open for me. What a gentleman. "Are we going to finish this at lunch?" I asked.

"Not the right place. Don't want the wrong people to overhear us." He said. The wrong people?

"Who are the wrong people?" I asked, climbing the stairs that led to homeroom.

"Skeptics mostly, they're the ones who believe you have to see something to believe it." He said. "Around me however, to see something sometimes you have to believe it."

We stopped outside the door to homeroom with at least a minute to spare. "So where are we going to finish talking about this?" I was a little anxious about all this; I wanted to know what to do if I ever ran into another vampire again.

"You remember how to get to Taz's?" He asked. The pub/diner we met at yesterday? I nodded. Taz's Pub is a small place not far from here. It's a place where other members of the supernatural community come to hang out, I guess. "We'll meet there after school and if they want to come, bring Po and Viper. I get the feeling they'll want to be in on this."

As soon as we walked in the classroom, everyone's cell phones went crazy.

 **Hiro's P.O.V. lunchtime**

When you don't understand something in different ways you tend to fear it. If you don't understand the homework assignment you've been given, you're afraid you'll fail it. If you go somewhere you've never been to before, chances are you'll be afraid of getting lost. You see an animal you've never seen before, chances are you'll be afraid it might attack.

Tigress, Po and Viper; they don't entirely know what's going on, so now they're afraid. Hell, wouldn't you be? Wizards, vampires, faeries and all kinds of things that go bump in the night… Most people would be happier thinking nothing like that is real. Ignorance is bliss after all, and in the supernatural world, it rings true more than you'd realize.

So now I'm in the schools library trying to think about how I'm gonna help those three through the shit they're going through. I'll probably start with what is real and how to protect yourself from it. Always good to start with the basics.

After I made my final decision on my 'lesson plan' I walked out of the library and made my way to the cafeteria. Might as well get something to eat to last me till I head over to Taz's. As I left I noticed a figure to my right a few feet away. He was peering around the corner, snickering to himself. I walked up behind the kid and tapped him on the shoulder and asked. "What are you doing?"

He spun around so fast that I didn't have time to react. He put a hand over my mouth and put a finger up to his to shush me. "Shhh, this is going to be good!" He whispered and went back to peering around the corner. Curiosity got the best of me (a nickle for every time that's happened) so I peered around the corner too.

A group of guys with flashy jackets were chatting by their lockers, my guess they're on the schools football team. We waited for a few more minutes until one of the jocks began putting in the combination to his locker. "Here it comes!" The kid next to me said excitedly. Here comes what?

When the jock opened his locker he was met with an explosion of whipped cream, covering him from head to toe. It was without a doubt one the most hilarious things I've seen in my entire life. The kid and I burst out laughing which earned the attention of the muscle heads down the hall.

"YOU TWO ARE SO DEAD!" Hey I had nothing to do with this, but at this point I doubt they'd listen.

A hand grabbed my arm and a voice said, "C'mon! Run!" The kid and I booked I down the the other hall as fast as we could. I went fast, one of the perks of having long limbs is I can take giant steps and cover a lot of distance. The kid next to me was quite a bit shorter than me, but he kept pace with me. We ran for a couple minutes until we ran out of the jocks line of sight. We rounded another corner and then the kid grabbed my arm and pulled me into what appeared to be the boiler room. We tried to be as quiet as we could when the jocks ran passed where we were hiding. Once they were gone the kid and I broke down laughing.

"That was awesome!" I said between breaths. I then took a moment to take in the kids appearance. He was a head shorter than me, a little on the thin side, had dirty blond hair and a playful grin plastered in his face.

"Thanks, I've been working a while to get that prank to work." He held out his hand. "Good to meet ya, my friends call me Monkey."

I traded grips with Monkey. "Nice to meet ya Monkey, people call me Hiro for now."

"For now?" He asked. Yes for now. Yep you guessed it, Hiro is not my real name. It's a wizard thing.

"I'll tell ya later. Right now…" I pulled out my old school pocket watch and checked the time. Lunch was almost over. Dammit. Gonna have to wait till I get to Taz's to eat. "...I gotta get to my next class."

"What class is that?" He asked. Let's see… If I remember correctly it should be…"

"History."

"No way! I have that class next too!"

"Well, let's go then." I said opening the door to our little hideout. As my new friend and I made our way you the next class we the halls became flooded with other students. I'm actually glad I met this guy, he really lightened the serious mood I was in.

 **After school**

The rest of school went by with only one incident. The jocks Monkey pranked (still hilarious) found me after the final bell. Long story short a chance ensued and I had to freeze a wet floor, which was a challenge to do without anyone noticing. But I pulled off such miracles before.

Now I made my way over to Taz's pub, my stomach grumbling due to the fact I had to skip lunch. The laugh that came with it made it worth it though.

"Settling in well?" A voice behind me asked. I spun around and saw a old man with a long white beard, striking blue eyes and a face etched with age and wisdom.

" _Merlin._ " I said surprised. The man in front of me was the leader of the White Council, the most powerful wizard on the planet. Arthur Langley, the Merlin.

After the passing of the original Merlin, the one who helped out king Arthur, his name became a title given to the most powerful wizard. Said wizard stood before me. I bowed my head in respect to him, the Merlin and I got along well enough, but I would never forget to give him the respect he deserves.

"Yes sir, I'm getting settled just fine." I said. He nodded.

"Good to hear. Jonas has been telling me of your run in with the members of the Red Court." I began to panic. Jonas is one of the White Councils Wardens, kinda like a wizard version of a police officer, only much more scarier. He was also my parole officer.

I'll tell you about that later.

"They were about to kill mortals I knew! I had to-" The Merlin held up a hand to silence me.

I shut up.

"I understand the situation and instructed Jonas to continue with his normal duties. But I must still remind you, with the Doom of Damocles hanging over your head, you have no room for mistakes. And Jonas is getting very eager to carry out your sentence should you cross the line."

I nodded. "I understand sir."

He smiled, he really is a nice guy. One of the reasons I respect him so much. "Then you may continue on your way, I believe your friends are waiting for you." I looked down the alley where Taz's was, almost there. When I looked back to where the Merlin was only to find him gone. One of these days I'm going to have to get him to tell me how he does that.

I made my way to Taz's shaking my head.

The Doom of Damocles was an intense parole. One strike and I'm out. With that over my head I need to toe the line very carefully.

Otherwise it will get me killed.

 **A/N.**

 **Hey guys. Yep this story is back. Let me know what you think. Fave and review. And I'll see ya next time.**


	5. Chapter 5

**The Okami Files**

Chapter Five: Something strange is going on, and it's not my fault!

" **Hiro's" P.O.V.**

 ***BRIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGG!***

My alarm clock went off, rousing me from sleep. I'm not really a morning person, so it took a lot of self-control not to blast the annoying little thing into a pile of molten slag.

It was one of those old school alarm clocks (in case you were wondering) the kind with gears instead of what they have in modern clocks. Technology doesn't work well around wizards, which is why whenever I go to school everyone's cell phones go crazy. Can't really explain the reason, it just happens. Of course there are some wizards on the council who have a few theories that the magical energies that wizards give off work almost like… what were they called again…? Electromagnetic waves, I think… and that causes tech to go all screwy around us.

And because of that, I don't have anything techy in my home (when I told Tigress and the rest of my friends this, they looked at me like I was some kind of alien.)

I don't have a refrigerator, I have an icebox… that runs on actual ice. I don't have a cell phone, I have an old rotary phone. I have no computers, no video game systems, and the only TV I have looks like it would belong in your grandfather's house. Simply put, if you walked into my place, you would think you've gone back in time.

I've been working on a way to end all that, but I haven't been all that successful.

I turned off the alarm clock ( that ringing was starting to give me a headache) and saw the hands were positioned at five thirty. Why the hell did I set my alarm this early? It was friday and I had school… no that's not it. Was I supposed to meet someone? No that's not it either. While thinking about the reason, I got out of my bed (king sized baby!) and opened the window to let in the cool, crisp autumn morning air. I took in a deep breath, it was so nice here, it wasn't like my hometown of Chicago, but I liked it. Yeah, I'm from Chicago originally, the Merlin had me transferred here after an incident with a visiting vampire dignitary (long story short, I tried to dry roast him). So now I have a new home and a new name… one that I don't really like all that much.

The Merlin got me this nice, big log cabin at the edge of a forest on the east side of Peace city. It's private, quiet and peaceful and big enough to make a couple of rich snobs envious… like I said, nothing like the noise and excitement of Chicago that I was used to. But the Merlin went through a lot to get me this place (what a guy), so I'm not complaining.

I went to the bathroom, got cleaned up then went down to the kitchen to get some breakfast. I'm a decent cook, I mean I haven't poisoned myself or anyone else yet. I made something simple; a ham and cheese omelet, and buttered toast. I turned on the old TV while the food cooked and turned it to the morning news.

"Another bizarre bank heist has left police baffled, as authorities struggle to make sense of the unusual chain of robberies. Chief Hu had this to say…"

Yeah, this has been going on for the last week or so; the strangest robberies have been happening, always the same as the last. People fall asleep and stuff goes missing, maybe not as strange as you might think but it does go on the weird side of things when you fall asleep waiting in line to deposit your weekly paycheck.

Once my breakfast was ready I brought it in my lab; a large room near the back of my cabin. One wall was dedicated to books. It was covered from top to bottom with books ranging from fiction to nonfiction, magical how-to books, and some old world faery tales.

The wall opposite of that was my workshop wall, where I mix up potions, make magical items and other such things. And the wall I was facing was my study wall, with a large oak desk, lots of notebooks filled from front to back with potion recipes I've made up, some paperwork I need to send to the council (I know right, paperwork at my age.) and a bleached, three-eyed human skull.

I sat at the desk and tapped the skull in the forehead. "C'mon Calcifer, time to wake up." I said.

Three orange pinpricks of light appeared in each of the skulls eyes. The skull then opened its mouth and let out a huge yawn. "Don't do that, it's contagious." I said jokingly.

The skull groaned. "Yawning is not a sickness and therefore cannot be contagious."

I grinned at the skull. "No need to take it so seriously Calcifer, It's just a joke."

Calcifer rolled his eyes at me. "Making jokes this early in the morning… aren't you cheerful."

I shrugged. "Not really, I'm just trying to lighten my mood so I won't be grumpy all day. By the way, you've seen the news reports?" I asked the skull.

Before we move on, I just want to clarify something, Calcifer the Skull… isn't really a skull; he just lives in it. Calcifer is a spirit of intellect, of knowledge with over nine hundred years of wisdom and experience. He's been assisting wizards for a very long time, now he helps me out. His knowledge on everything from the metaphysical laws of magic to different ramen recipes makes Calcifer an invaluable asset to anyone who possesses his skull… regardless of their moral alignment. In fact, one of the wizards who possessed Calcifers skull was a very powerful necromancer who terrorized Europe back in World War One. (As a precautionary measure, I ordered Calcifer to keep those specific memories locked away.)

"Yes, I have." He stated plainly.

"What's your take on it?" I asked, wanting to know as much as I could before checking it out myself. Why would I do this you might ask…? Because I want to, that's why!

"Not much, after just _hearing_ what's been going on, I can only give you a few theories… but there is one thing I am sure of."

I started digging into my omelet and goddamn it was good, the eggs were nice and fluffy, the cheese was warm and gooey… just perfect. "And that would be...?" I asked.

"The people are being put into a magical sleep. Which allows the thief to walk off with the cash unopposed."

I kinda surmised as much. The question now is how is it being done? "Mass sleep spell?" I mused.

"The only kind of spells that can pull that off are _mind fog_ spells, and those have been deemed illegal by the White Council nearly seventy years ago. Whoever is doing this is at least trying to avoid the council's eye at the moment." True. As the name implies _Mind fog_ spells involves getting into people's heads, which is against one of the laws of magic.

"Faery work?" I suggested.

"Now what would anyone of the faery courts do with something like money? Their currency is favors, remember?"

"Yeah, but what if a human wizard made a deal with one; doing him the favor of putting everyone to sleep as he robs the place?" I said, trying to think like a criminal.

Calcifer hmmed in thought for a second then replied. "If one wanted to make a deal with one of the fae, he'd have to offer something of equal or greater value, otherwise whoever the wizard is trying to work with will kill him for wasting their time."

After I was finished with my omelet I started on my toast. "What would be an even trade then?" I asked.

"Children." He said. Made sense, faeries have been notorious kidnappers for a very long time. "Has there been any missing persons cases?" He asked.

I shook my head as I finished my toast. "None that I know of, and I've been keeping careful track of all the weird things that have been going on around here. Sad to say, the unusual thefts are the only weird things that have been going on."

"Well if it's not magic or faery work, then it could only be one thing." Calcifer said. I took out my pocket watch and… oops time to get going.

"Some kind of magical artifact?" I wondered.

"Bingo."

I got up and walked to the kitchen and put my dishes in the sink, then came back to my lab to gather my school supplies. "So all we have to do now is figure out what artifact it is."

"Which narrows it down to at least a few dozen things I can think of off the top of my head, about three more if I took some time to think about it."

I put my coat on and my bag after that. "I'll ask around the places that were robbed after school, see if any of the employees noticed anything strange the days they were robbed."

"Let me know what you find out boss." Calcifer said as I laced up my boots.

"Will do." I said. As I reached for the doorknob I froze, a thought had suddenly crossed my mind. A thought that made me start to laugh. "You know, I just noticed something interesting about the weird stuff that's been happening around here."

"Yes? What's that?" Calcifer asked me as I opened the door.

"It's not my fault." And I walked out the door.

 **A/N**

 **Okay, I'm going to end this chapter here and next time we'll find out what "Hiro" (who's real name will be revealed soon) is getting himself into. Also I can't decide who should debut next, Mantis or Crane. If anyone has any ideas for me, PM me and let me know.**

 **See ya next time!**


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